Subject: Rev. Don Wildmon and the AFA: 1977-1992
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 1994 13:48:47 -40975532 (CST)
From: "Al Geiersbach"
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THE MEDIA COALITION, INC.
1221 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS * 24TH FLOOR * NEW YORK, N.Y. 10020
(212) 768-6770
Michael A. Bamberger
_General Counsel_
Christopher M Finan
_Esecutive Director_
Anne F. Castro
_Legislative Assistant_
_The Rev. Donald E. Wildmon's Crusade for Censorship 1977-1992_
By
Christopher M. Finan
and
Anne F. Castro
AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION, INC. * AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS
FOUNDATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION * ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN
PUBLISHERS, INC. * COUNCIL FOR PERIODICAL DISTRIBUTORS
ASSOCIATIONS * FREEDOM TO READ FOUNDATION * INTERNATIONAL
PERIODICAL DISTRIBUTORS ASSOCIATION, INC. * MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS
OF AMERICA, INC. * NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE STORES, INC.
* NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RECORDING MERCHANDISERS * PERIODICAL
AND BOOK ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. * RECORDING INDUSTRY
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. * VIDEO SOFTWARE DEALERS ASSOCIATION
The Rev. Donald E. Wildmon has always claimed to be an "average
guy." When he first came to the attention of the public, he was
the leader of a boycott against advertisers who sponsored "sex,
violence and profanity" on television. Wildmon insisted that he
was not a censor but an outraged private citizen who was
exercising his constitutional right to protest. But Wildmon is
not an average citizen. His ambition is to remake American
society. Nor is he content with the instruments of change
provided by democratic institutions: he advocates the censorship
of television, movies, books, magazines and recordings. During
his 15-year campaign for censorship, he has tried to suppress:
* Television shows like "Donahue," "Wonder Years," "Seinfeld,"
"Major Dad," "Roseanne," "Murphy Brown," "L.A. Law," "Northern
Exposure," and "Quantum Leap;"
* Television dramas like Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove," Maya
Angelou's "Sister, Sister," "Absolute Strangers," "The Alison
Gertz Story," and "Portrait of a Rebel: Margaret Sanger;"
* Movies like "The Last Temptation of Christ," and "Ghost;"
* Magazines like _Playboy_, _Penthouse_, and _Sassy_.
* Recordings like Madonna's "Like a Prayer."
Wildmon's campaign began one night in December 1976. At the
time, he was an obscure, 38-year-old United Methodist pastor,
serving a church in Southaven, Mississippi. But he had always
been ambitious. "Back in my younger days I reached the
conclusion that the worst thing that could happen would be to
come to the time of death and realize that my life had made no
difference," Wildmon said.[1] That night in 1976 as he sat
watching television with his family, he found the vehicle for
his ambitions. He later claimed that as he switched channels he
was unable to find a single show that didn't feature sex,
violence, or profanity.[2] Wildmon interpreted this as a calling
from God to take up the fight for purer television. He resigned
his ministry in June 1977 and moved to Tupelo, Mississippi, 50
miles outside of Memphis to establish the National Federation
for Decency. The NFD struggled in the beginning. According to
his son, Wildmon was able to pay himself only $1,800 in the
first seven months of the organization's existence; his wife
began working to help the venture survive.[3]
Wildmon found it difficult to establish an identity for the
NFD. The first effort to attract national attention was a
campaign called, "Turn the Television Off Week," which targeted
mostly southern cities in July 1977. Wildmon claimed that his
survey of television programming revealed that 54 per cent of
all shows had sexual content. Wildmon said such a high
proportion of sexual programming distorted real life. He was
also upset that "90 percent" of the sex was adulterous. "The
strategy of so much network programming is to appeal to the
prurient interest of man and not to spend money for quality
programming," Wildmon said.[4] While Wildmon received some press
attention, his television boycott did not have any effect.
Wildmon's problem was how to exert power over the networks with
an organization that claimed only 1,400 members. Clearly,
boycotts of television programs would not work: the number of
people who would turn off their sets at any one time would never
be large enough to register in the ratings. But a boycott of
advertisers had proven effective the year before in a campaign
against the satire "Soap." In the spring of 1978, Wildmon
announced his first boycott of advertisers. He told Sears that
his supporters would boycott its stores until it withdrew
sponsorship of three shows at the top of his hit list --
"Three's Company," "Charlie's Angels," and "All in the Family."
Although his following was minuscule, Wildmon used it to maximum
effect by staging demonstrations outside Sears stores in several
parts of the country and in downtown Chicago in front of the
Sears building itself. The boycott worked. While denying it was
acting under pressure, Sears canceled its ads on "Three's
Company" and "Charlie's Angels.[5]
During 1979, Wildmon continued to make his voice heard. He
attacked "Flesh and Blood," a television movie based on a novel
by Pete Hamill, because it dealt with the subject of incest.[6]
He also attacked, "Portrait of a Rebel: Margaret Sanger," a
movie about the leader of the movement for birth control. He
struck out at CBS, accusing it of complicity in the murder of a
little girl in Wichita Falls, Texas. The four-year-old was
murdered by her mother, who had seen a similar crime committed
when CBS broadcast "Exorcist II." "CBS must accept partial blame
for her death," Wildmon insisted. "They were an accessory to the
murder." An NFD picket outside CBS headquarters in New York
carried a sign that insisted: "CBS Controlled by Satan."[7]
Yet the NFD was making little progress. It was firmly anchored
on the lunatic fringe of the hundreds of groups trying to change
television to suit their tastes. Wildmon had a new weapon in the
advertiser boycott, but he had been unable to secure the backing
from larger, more established groups that he would need to
launch a national campaign. He began to think that his future
might lie in another direction. He ran for a seat in the
Mississippi House of Representatives in 1980 but finished a
distant third, garnering only 921 votes or 15 per cent of the
total cast.[8]
A month after his defeat in the Mississippi House race, Wildmon
made another effort to win backing for his advertiser boycott.
He met with the Reverend Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Falwell, the leader of The Moral Majority, was then at the peak
of his career as a spokesman for the movement of conservative
church groups known as the "Religious Right." As Wildmon later
told the story, he held up before Falwell a dollar bill. "The
networks don't care about your moral values, but they do care
about this," Wildmon said. According to Wildmon, Falwell didn't
require much persuading. "Great," he said. "Let's go with it."
Wildmon said later that he believed he had reached a turning
point. As he sat in his motel room that night, he was sure of
victory. "Now I have the numbers," he recalled thinking. "Now I
have the clout. After three years of wandering in the
wilderness, I've found a road to the Promised Land."[9]
Two months later, in February 1981, Wildmon announced the
organization of the Coalition for Better Television (CBTV), the
group that would bring him national recognition. His alliance
with Falwell enabled Wildmon to claim that CBTV represented 200
organizations with a combined membership of over three million.
These three million people were prepared to back a boycott of
the three advertisers who sponsored the worst programming on
television, he announced. The targets of the boycott were to be
selected following three months of monitoring by 4,000 members
of the coalition. The monitors would rate the offending shows on
the basis of "sex incidents per hour," scenes of violence and
uses of profanity.[10]
Few people outside of employees of the television networks and,
to a lesser extent, the advertising industry, attempted to
answer Wildmon. One of them was Peggy Charren, president of
Action for Children's Television and a strong critic of the
networks. Charren accused Wildmon of wanting to censor
television. Sex, violence, and profanity were only the
beginning, she warned: "What will be the next target of the
CBTV's censorship crusade. A production of "A Streetcar Named
Desire?" A documentary on teenage pregnancy? The news?"[11] For
the most part, however, the networks were forced to defend
themselves.
The networks struck back in the final weeks of the CBTV rating
period by releasing the results of opinion polls that showed the
public opposed the boycott. A poll commissioned by ABC showed
that 64 per cent believed that the popularity of a program
should be the sole factor in determining what was on television.
Only 1.3 per cent said that they would consider backing a
boycott. The poll also showed that Falwell and Wildmon had
little support even among evangelical Christians. It revealed
that 55 per cent of those identifying themselves as members of
the Moral Majority opposed efforts to force their opinions on
others. CBS News reported that one third of the organizations
listed as sponsors of CBTV disavowed any connection with the
group.[12]
Nevertheless, CBTV was beginning to harvest the fruit of its
campaign. Advertisers had begun to crack under the threat of the
impending boycott. The first important convert to the cause of
CBTV-approved television was Owen B. Butler, the chairman of
Procter and Gamble, the company that spent more on television
annually than any other--nearly $500 million. In a speech to the
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on June 16, Butler
announced that his company had withdrawn advertising from 50
television shows over the past year. Butler denied the company
had been responding to pressure from Wildmon, but he left little
doubt that Procter and Gamble would take his advice in the
future: "We think the coalition is expressing very important and
broadly held views about gratuitous sex, violence and profanity.
I can assure you that we are listening very carefully to what
they say, and I urge you to do the same." Television and
advertising industry officials were shocked by Butler's
admission. Charren had been expecting it. "Based on what TV
advertisers did during the red scares of the 50's, this is
exactly what I expected," she said.[13]
Wildmon knew that he had Butler's ear. In remarks to reporters
later, he revealed that Procter and Gamble had been speaking
with CBTV for some time. "We've had dialogues with P&G over a
period of many months," Wildmon said.[14] Nor was Procter and
Gamble alone in seeking an accommodation with Wildmon. On June
26, the _New York Times_ reported that several television
advertisers had been invited to a meeting with CBTV officials.
Wildmon confirmed that discussions were under way to reach a
compromise that would prevent a boycott.[15] Wildmon told the
Associated Press that the boycott threat was having a decided
effect. "I've talked with six advertisers in the last week who
have pulled 150 commercials off the air in the last four
months," he said.[16]
On June 29, at a CBTV press conference that had been scheduled
to announce the start of the boycott, Wildmon announced its
cancellation. With Falwell and Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle
Forum looking on, Wildmon told the press that the boycott was no
longer necessary because in their meetings with CBTV officials,
advertisers had promised to help "clean up" television. Wildmon
refused to identify the advertisers who had made these pledges.
While he professed himself satisfied, Wildmon warned that CBTV
might institute a boycott in the fall if the shows premiering
then were objectionable. Falwell said his organization was
"raising funds for a war chest to buy and assist others in
buying full-page ads across the nation naming public enemy No. 1
or 2 or whoever they are and listing their products."[17]
Skeptics raised questions about the decision to cancel the
boycott. They suggested that the networks' opinion polls had
trumped Wildmon. They said he was afraid of losing. "Let me tell
you something," Wildmon said, replying to his critics. "I was
raised to know that it was not a disgrace to fight and get
whipped."[18] But Wildmon had at least won a moral victory. The
chairman of one of the nation's biggest corporations had
promoted his views as important for the nation. Even those who
opposed his tactics endorsed his claim that television needed
better programming.
But "better programming" is a subjective judgement. Wildmon
insisted that his opposition to shows was based solely on
objectively-measured levels of sex, violence and profanity. When
Wildmon objected to a show because of its sexual content,
however, it was not always because it was prurient but often
because it presented sex in ways he disliked--outside marriage,
between teenagers or partners of the same sex. He also opposed
the mention of birth control, abortion and, later, AIDS. His
criticism of profanity often had more to do with offensiveness
of the subject of discussion than the use of vulgar words.
Wildmon's condemnation did not stop at shows like "Vegas" and
"The Dukes of Hazzard," but extended to programs dealing with
adult themes like "All in the Family," "Taxi," and "WKRP in
Cincinnati." (See Addendum for a full list of the television
programs attacked by Wildmon.)
Wildmon's extremism clearly guided his attacks on programming
during the balance of 1981. He was particularly unhappy about
NBC's decision to develop a series based on a movie about an
aging homosexual who permits a young woman and her daughter to
move in with him. Wildmon, who saw the show as an attack on the
institution of the family, said it was "utterly stupid" for NBC
to undertake the series at the very moment when concern about
television was at its peak. Tony Randall, the star of the
proposed series, "Love Sidney," defended his show. "It's about
compassion. It's about love. It's about the need people have for
family. And they're saying it's anti-family," Randall said.[19]
As the preemptive strike on Randall's show indicated, Wildmon
was not waiting for shows to be aired before attacking them.
Wildmon condemned a fictionalized treatment of a series of
murders of black children in Atlanta before the producer had
decided to go ahead with the project.[20]
Wildmon's pose as a moderate was undermined later in the year
when some of his followers pushed his views about sex on
television to their logical extreme. He was forced to apologize
to Phil Donahue, the talk show host, for a release issued by one
of the chapters of his National Federation for Decency that
described Donahue, whose show had won nine Emmy awards, as a
"sex activist broadcaster." The release said many of Donahue's
"sex shows" promoted abnormal sex and threatened a boycott of
Donahue's sponsors. In an appearance on "Donahue," Wildmon
apologized for the release. He admitted that a program on
breast-feeding should not have been characterized as a "sex
program." But Wildmon soon resumed the offensive, insisting that
his monitoring showed that almost half of Donahue's shows dealt
with sex. He charged that some urged acceptance of sex practices
contrary to traditional Christian morality.[21]
Wildmon's appearance on "Donahue" showed how far he had come
from Southaven, Mississippi. The threat of a boycott had given
him national exposure. Now he was anxious to see what an actual
boycott would achieve. In late 1981, Wildmon decided that the
networks had not met his demands and that a boycott would be
necessary after all. But just as Wildmon was preparing to
realize his dream, Jerry Falwell withdrew his support for the
tactic of boycotting advertisers. The division between Wildmon
and Falwell had first become apparent in a television
documentary, "Eye of the Beholder," broadcast in late 1981. It
was this documentary that first reported Wildmon's determination
to proceed with the boycott. It also revealed that Falwell was
having second thoughts. He appeared to take to heart the survey
results released in June that showed his own followers rejecting
efforts to force the Moral Majority's views on others. Falwell
told the interviewer that the Moral Majority had raised $2
million for the boycott but then suggested that his group would
not back coercive efforts to change programming. The Moral
Majority's resignation from the boycott was confirmed by a
spokesman for the group in late January 1982. "Our feeling is
that the networks are headed in the right direction," he
said.[22]
In the absence of the Moral Majority, Wildmon changed his
plans. Falwell had promised $2 million for publicity for the
boycott before he backed out, and publicity was critical because
the boycott depended upon the consumer's ability to recognize
the target's products in the market place. Lacking funds,
Wildmon abandoned the proposed boycott of advertisers. At a news
conference in February 1982, he announced a boycott against RCA,
the owner of NBC.
Wildmon also revealed new demands. "Our concerns have been too
narrow and will be expanded," he explained. "Our concerns about
sex, violence and profanity in programs is valid, but there will
be more. We're going to surprise some people."[23] He demanded
changes in the way NBC handled 11 subjects. Besides sex,
violence and profanity, he wanted fewer depictions of drug abuse
and "racial and religious stereotyping." The network would have
to make an effort to portray life as it was lived by Christians,
Wildmon said. "RCA-NBC has excluded Christian characters,
Christian values and Christian culture from their programming,"
he charged. Wildmon also wanted to see an improvement in the
portrayal of American business. Wildmon claimed that business
executives had been painted as "crooks and con men."[24]
During his news conference, Wildmon had demonstrated again that
he was not reluctant to criticize a popular show by singling out
for attack NBC's award-winning dramatic series, "Hill Street
Blues," which he said was full of sexual innuendo. Several
months later, he showed that he was not afraid to attack a show
with serious artistic intentions either. NBC was preparing to
broadcast a movie that had been written by the poet Maya
Angelou. "Sister, Sister," was the story of how three black
sisters in North Carolina resolved the differences that
separated them. Wildmon had not seen the movie. Apparently
reacting to a part of the story in which a minister committed
adultery and stole the church receipts, Wildmon claimed that
"negative stereotyping of people identified as Christian in the
film is an example of a continuing trend by RCA- NBC and an
example of anti-Christian, anti-religious network
programming."[25] The advertisers responded to his complaints:
12 of the 28 sponsors asked to see the program again, and one
sponsor, Kodak, withdrew its ads after determining that the film
was not sufficiently "family-oriented." Author Jessica Mitford
rejected Wildmon's criticisms in a letter to the _New York
Times_. She pointed out that "Sister, Sister" was the type of
program that Wildmon had said he approved: "Psychological drama
of the highest order, "Sister, Sister," achieves a stunning
breakthrough as a sensitive portrait of a three-dimensional,
non-stereotypical black family. No wild car chases, no
prostitution, no drugs, no teen-age crime--in short, no sex or
violence (sorry about that Mr. Wildmon)".[26] Wildmon had
revealed himself for what he was: a Christian minister who
believed that television should reflect his own world view,
including his high opinion of Christian ministers. He had also
shown himself as a man with an insatiable appetite for change,
one change making him hungry for the next. As a result, he lost
the support of many who had formerly sympathized with him. A day
of reckoning was fast approaching.
Judgement day fell at the close of the third quarter of 1982.
RCA reported earnings that demonstrated Wildmon's boycott had
not had an effect. Third quarter earnings were $47.6 million, an
increase of $152.4 million over the third quarter of 1981 when
the company had shown a loss.[27] Wildmon replied by pointing to
RCA's weak consumer products division, insisting that this was
the part of the corporation most likely to be hurt by the
boycott. But the boycott was clearly a failure. By early 1983,
"Love, Sidney," the series starring Tony Randall that Wildmon
had attacked before its premiere, had become a success and was
inching closer to acknowledgment of Sidney's homosexuality.
Before it became the target of Wildmon's boycott, NBC had
prevented Randall from striking back at Wildmon.[28] Now,
Randall dismissed Wildmon as "that ignorant, cynical,
Bible-thumping ass in Mississippi."[29] There was no lightning.
For his part, Wildmon had dropped any pretense of being a
reformer. He no longer accused the networks of using sex,
violence and profanity to gain ratings. The problem with the
networks was that they were dominated by a "humanist" view of
society. The "humanist point of view is that man came from
nowhere, is going nowhere and has no responsibility to others,"
Wildmon said. Wildmon professed himself an apostle of the
Christian view. The "Christian view is that man was created by
God and that there's somewhere to go -- heaven or hell-- and
some moral absolutes and moral guidelines to follow," he said.
The conflict between the two was irreconcilable. "You have a
clash of two distinct value systems," Wildmon said. The networks
were trying to remake society in line with humanist values.
Wildmon acknowledged that they were winning. "I don't think we
have more than five or six years left to stem the tide," he
said. "Television is the most destructive force in our
society."[30] It was clear that if Wildmon were in charge,
television would be dominated by Christian values.
After the failure of the RCA boycott, the Coalition for Better
Television lapsed. Wildmon had fallen from the limelight, but he
had not abandoned his ambition to strike a devastating blow at
the "humanist" media. He travelled tirelessly in an effort to
make his National Federation for Decency a grass-roots
organization. He also promoted his _Journal_, the major
publication of his organization. The _Journal_, which has
changed little since then, carries detailed criticism of
individual television shows and lists the names and addresses of
their sponsors. Its columns explain the demise of American
society as the result of the increase of divorce, the growing
presence of women in the work force and other factors that are
weakening the traditional family. It frequently attacks birth
control and abortion. The tone of the magazine is set by its
description of the many crimes that can allegedly be attributed
to pornography, television or movie violence and rock and roll
music. The April 1989 _Journal_ carried a story in which a
mother blamed the rock band the Grateful Dead for the drug abuse
problem that led her son to take hostages and be killed by the
police.[31]
Wildmon knew that organizing local chapters of the NFD would
occur more quickly if the organizing occurred within the context
of a larger campaign. In 1984, the NFD began a fight to ban
_Playboy_ and _Penthouse_ magazines. As always, Wildmon's tactic
was not to attack the producers directly. He tried to strangle
the magazines' circulation through boycotts aimed at chain
stores, including drug and convenience stores, where they were
sold from "blindered" racks behind the counter. He returned to
the picketing tactic that he had used against Sears, sending
demonstrators to 7-Eleven and other stores. While Wildmon
experienced some success against the smaller chains, the
Southland Corporation, which owned 7-Eleven, and most major
chains held firm. Wildmon campaigned for two years with meager
results.
Wildmon's return to national prominence was largely the result
of actions taken by the national administration in Washington.
Wildmon and other "anti-pornography" activists had strongly
supported the candidacy of Ronald Reagan because, among other
things, they believed that he would take strong measures to curb
sexually explicit material. They were disappointed when Reagan
took little action on the conservatives' "social agenda" during
his first term. Wildmon and other advocates of stricter
censorship visited Reagan following his reelection to urge him
to act. The result was the appointment of the Attorney General's
Commission on Pornography in 1985. The partisans of the new
Commission were eager to see it rebut a previous commission's
conclusion that sexually explicit material was not harmful to
adults. The 1970 report by the President's Commission on
Obscenity and Pornography recommended the abolition of obscenity
laws. With the appointment of what became known as the Meese
Commission in 1985, the anti- pornography activists acquired an
important vehicle for their views, and Wildmon found another
national forum. The Commission was chaired by a former
prosecutor who had made his reputation by prosecuting adult
bookstores and movie houses.
Wildmon did not waste his opportunity. At a public hearing in
Los Angeles in October 1985, he told the Meese Commission that
it must attack not only organized crime, reputed to be the major
producer of hard-core obscenity, but also major corporations
that were involved in the sale of non-obscene, First
Amendment-protected material with sexual content. "The general
public usually associates pornography with sleazy porno
bookstores and theaters," Wildmon said. "However, many of the
major players in the game of pornography are household
names."[32] Wildmon then proceeded to name them. Of course, the
Southland Corporation was at the top of his list. But Wildmon
alleged that 22 other corporations were involved in "pornography
distribution," including CBS, Time, Ramada Inns, RCA, and
Coca-Cola. The list also included three national distributors of
magazines, 11 chain stores, including Rite Aid and Dart Drug
Stores, and a chain of video stores, National Video.
Wildmon's testimony before the Meese Commission became national
news when, without being identified as coming from Wildmon, it
was incorporated into a letter that the Commission sent to the
corporations on Wildmon's list. The Commission informed the
corporations that Wildmon's characterization of them as
"distributors" of "pornography" would be included in the
Commission's final report. They were invited to reply to the
charge of their anonymous accuser. Instead, several lawsuits
were filed to force the Commission to withdraw its letter. Among
the plaintiffs filing suits were the American Booksellers
Association, the Council for Periodical Distributors
Associations, and the Magazine Publishers of America as well as
_Playboy_ and _Penthouse_. They accused the Commission of
establishing a blacklist to coerce the corporations receiving
the letter into withdrawing First Amendment-protected material.
A federal judge ordered the Commission to retract the letter and
barred it from issuing any lists of retailers.
But the Meese Commission's letter had set in motion a chain of
events that no judge's order could arrest. Wildmon's boycott
campaign against the chain stores, like the campaign against the
television advertisers, had made them extremely sensitive to
adverse publicity. The Commission's letter was the straw that
broke their backs. On April 10, 1986, the Southland Corporation
announced that it was pulling _Playboy_ and _Penthouse_ from its
4,500 stores and recommending to 3,600 other 7-Elevens that were
owned by franchisees that they get rid of them as well. The
statement by Southland announcing the decision suggested that
the chain was responding to evidence adduced by the Meese
Commission that showed a link between "adult magazines and
crime, violence, and child abuse."[33] But Wildmon questioned
Southland's altruism. He claimed that Southland had bent under
the boycott. "It is a good example of what can happen when the
Christian community stands together with selective buying,"
Wildmon said. "It took us approximately two years, but our voice
was heard."[34] By the time the Meese Commission was ordered to
withdraw its letter in July, six of the chains targeted by the
Commission had pulled _Playboy_ and _Penthouse_ and 34 smaller
chains who didn't receive the letter had followed Southland's
lead. More than 10,000 stores had stopped carrying the
magazines.[35] By August, the number had grown to 17,000.[36]
The removal of _Playboy_, _Penthouse_ and other men's
"sophisticate" magazines from stores across the country had a
domino effect, causing the removal of other magazines that were
controversial for one reason or another. Magazines about rock
and roll music, several teen magazines, the swimsuit issue of
_Sports Illustrated_, and issues of _American Photographer_ and
_Cosmopolitan_ were removed from sale in some parts of the
country in the panic set off by the Meese Commission letter.
Wildmon kept his name in the headlines in 1987 by attacking a
controversial disc jockey and a mainstream hotel corporation.
Wildmon's complaint against "shock radio" personality Howard
Stern may have been a factor in the decision by the Federal
Communications Commission to expand its ban on "offensive"
programming. At the same time, Wildmon was directing a boycott
against the Holiday Inn hotel chain in an effort to stop it from
making "R"-rated films available to guests in their rooms.
However, demonstrations scheduled at 100 Holiday Inns across the
country on April 18 failed to materialize. Only 13 hotels were
picketed; the average demonstration numbered between five and 10
protesters, and demonstrations lasted for only a few hours.[37]
In the spring of 1987, Wildmon prepared to resume his attack on
television. He had never abandoned it entirely. The pages of the
_NFD Journal_ were full of condemnation for the current crop of
programs and the people who sponsored them. In April 1987,
Wildmon criticized the networks for dropping their ban on
permitting bras to be modelled by live models. He predicted that
the next step would be live underwear ads.[38] The first sign of
a new campaign came with the organization of Christian Leaders
for Responsible Television as a successor to the Coalition for
Better Television. In June, CLeaR-TV announced its first
boycott, targeting Mazda Motors and Noxell for their sponsorship
of television programs featuring sex, violence and
profanity.[39] Four months later, CLeaRTV announced that Noxell
and Mazda had agreed to reduce the amount of sex and violence it
allegedly helped promote on network TV.[40]
Ironically, just as Wildmon seemed to recapture some of the
prestige he had lost after the RCA boycott, the NFD encountered
financial problems. The scandal over evangelist Jim Bakker's
sexual encounter with a Long Island church secretary hurt all
organizations that depended for funds on evangelical Christians.
Contribution to the NFD dropped sharply following Bakker's
disgrace. The problem became so critical that Wildmon quietly
folded the NFD at the end of the year. As he closed the 10-year-
old NFD, Wildmon opened the American Family Association. Two
controversies in 1988 helped Wildmon rebound from this setback.
The first was the protest over Martin Scorcese's film, "Last
Temptation of Christ." The film was opposed by many religious
leaders because it portrayed Christ as a messiah struggling with
human weaknesses, including sexual desire. While many Christian
leaders condemned the film, Wildmon tried to suppress it.
Wildmon asked his supporters to petition their local theaters in
an effort to prevent the exhibition of the Universal Pictures
film and announced a boycott against companies owned by
Universal's parent corporation, MCA. He also urged his followers
to vote against the Democratic Party in the upcoming election
because Lew Wasserman, the MCA chairman, was a major fundraiser
for the Democrats.[41] Among the demonstrations against the
release of the film, two held in Los Angeles in July were widely
interpreted as anti-Semitic. Wildmon acknowledged the incidents
as "very unfortunate."[42] However, he contributed to the
controversy by demanding to know how many Christians served in
top positions at MCA and Universal.[43] The protests over the
film culminated in demonstrations in seven cities on August 12,
the day of the film's release. The largest demonstration,
involving 500 people, occurred outside a theater in New York.
Despite the fact that several theater chains refused to show the
film, "Last Temptation of Christ" set a box office record during
its first week.
During the battle over "The Last Temptation of Christ," Wildmon
claimed victory in another controversy when the creator of the
"Mighty Mouse" cartoon agreed to cut 3 1/2 seconds of an episode
that Wildmon had protested. The creator, Ralph Bakshi, had
fallen under suspicion because of his role in making an X-rated
animated feature, "Fritz the Cat." However, Bakshi had also won
an award for "Mighty Mouse" from Action for Children's
Television. In the disputed episode, Wildmon charged Bakshi with
portraying Mighty Mouse as experiencing drug-induced
exhilaration after inhaling the petals of a flower. Mighty Mouse
had sniffed cocaine, Wildmon contended. Bakshi defended his
cartoon, insisting that Wildmon had interpreted the scene out of
context. However, Bakshi said he was removing the scene because
of his concern that the controversy might lead children to
believe that what Wildmon was saying was true. Wildmon
interpreted the cut differently. "This is a de facto admission
that indeed Mighty Mouse was snorting cocaine," Wildmon said.
"We have been vindicated."[44]
Wildmon had survived another serious crisis. By the end of
1988, he had established AFA on a firmer footing than the
National Federation for Decency had ever enjoyed. AFA's first
tax return, filed for 1988, revealed an income of $5,228,505.
All of the funds came from contributions and gifts. Wildmon was
ready at last to take on his favorite target -- the networks. In
December, the representatives of CLeaR-TV, Wildmon's television
group, announced that they would boycott the worst advertiser at
the conclusion of the sweeps period in May.
The announcement of the boycott threat in January 1989 had the
same chilling effect on advertisers that it had in 1981.
Kimberly-Clark and Tambrands announced they would not advertise
on the show "Married...with Children." An _Advertising Age_
story noted that a growing number of companies were reviewing
the programs they sponsored more care fully.[45] Less than two
weeks after Kimberly-Clark and Tambrands withdrew from
"Married...with Children," two advertisers who had been
pressured by Wildmon pulled their ads from "Saturday Night
Live." Ralston-Purina Company canceled $1 million in ads because
one of the shows "crossed over the line of good taste." General
Mills withdrew an undisclosed number of commercials.[46] A month
later, Domino's Pizza also pulled out, citing the efforts of the
American Family Association as a factor in its decision.[47] At
about the same time, Wildmon scored another triumph when Pepsi
bowed to his demand that it sever its connection with the singer
Madonna because one of her music videos, "Like a Virgin," used
religious imagery in a way that offended him.[48] Advertiser
fear had grown to such an extent by May that ABC was unable to
find sponsors for sequels to two crime shows that had received
respectable ratings. Wildmon's blast at a movie dramatization of
the _Roe v. Wade_ case, which the critics praised for its
even-handed treatment of the abortion controversy, cost NBC as
much as $1 million in lost advertising revenue.[49] Wildmon was
now familiar to the networks, television advertisers, movie
producers, video retailers, magazine publishers, booksellers and
other retailers whom he had targeted, but he remained largely
unknown outside business circles. In 1989, he found a new
audience -- Congress.
In early 1989, Wildmon learned that the National Endowment for
the Arts had provided funding for an exhibit that included a
photograph entitled "Piss Christ." The photograph by Andre
Serrano depicted a crucifix submerged in a jar filled with the
artist's urine. Wildmon immediately launched a campaign against
the NEA claiming that the tax dollars of the American people
were being spent to support "pornographic, anti-Christian 'works
of art'."[50] He sent a reproduction of the Serrano photograph
to every member of Congress. Many were horrified. New York
Senator Alfonse D'Amato tore up the photograph on the Senate
floor. He denounced the NEA for funding "shocking, abhorrent
art" and demanded the agency deny funds to artists like
Serrano.[51]
NEA Endowment Chairman John Frohnmayer defended his agency. He
charged that Wildmon was misrepresenting the Endowment by
focusing on a handful of controversial works. One of the works
that Wildmon attacked was part of an exhibit, "Tongues of
Flame," by artist David Wojnarowicz. Discovering two small
sexually explicit photographs in a collage-like painting
entitled "Water," Wildmon had them enlarged and distributed to
Congress, the media and the clergy, claiming "your tax dollars
helped pay for these 'works of art'."[52] Wojnarowicz sued
Wildmon for libel and copyright infringement. By using the two
photographs to characterize the piece, Wildmon had turned his
work into "banal pornography," Wojnarowicz charged.[53] While
the artist's damage claims were dismissed, a Federal judge
issued an injunction barring Wildmon's further use of "Tongues
of Flame."
Wildmon's attack on the NEA was a smashing success. Congress
barred the NEA from giving grants to artists whose work "might
be deemed obscene." Although the obscenity ban was repealed in
October 1990, Congress continued to require the Endowment to
uphold "general standards of decency" when awarding grants.[54]
In recognition of his prominent role in the NEA controversy, the
_New York Times Magazine_ made Wildmon the subject of a cover
story in September.[55] (Wildmon refused to talk to the _Times_
reporter. After what he described as years of media
"misrepresentation," Wildmon had decided not to talk to a
reporter unless he or she were willing to sign a contract giving
him the right to make changes in the article.)
Wildmon lost little time in using his new celebrity status to
further the campaign for censorship. In September, he accused
Burger King of being the "leading sponsor of sex, violence, and
profanity" on television, and threatened to lead a boycott
against it.[56] The corporation immediately came to terms. It
agreed to publish newspaper ads throughout the country affirming
support for "moral" programming: "Burger King supports
traditional American family values, especially the importance of
family...We pledge to support such programs with our advertising
dollars."[57" What Burger King didn't know was that Wildmon was
incapable of carrying out his threat of economic reprisals. His
following was simply too small.
In October 1990, Americans for Constitutional Freedom, an
anti-censorship group, demonstrated the thinness of Wildmon's
support by publishing the results of a poll by Peter D. Hart
surveying 504 adults in Seattle, Topeka, Abilene, Charlotte,
N.C., and Boston. Only 20 per cent of those surveyed had heard
of Wildmon or the AFA; and only two per cent "actively
supported" them.[58] The poll demonstrated that only 18 percent
of those surveyed had ever participated in a boycott of any kind
and that the overwhelming percentage of those who had were
protesting corporate policies concerning labor or the
environment. Less than two per cent reported participating in
boycotts of controversial magazines like _Playboy_ or television
advertisers.
To test Wildmon's effectiveness directly, the Hart poll asked
whether the respondent had participated in the boycott of Clorox
that Wildmon declared in March 1989. Only one percent said they
had. This finding is supported by Clorox itself, which reported
undiminished profits in late l989.[59] Indeed, no boycott by
Wildmon has succeeded by inflicting economic losses on its
target. By the end of 1992, Holiday Inn had been on the AFA's
list for almost five years for offering X-rated films to their
adult customers. Early in the boycott, the company reported that
the boycott had actually helped rather than hurt its
business.[60] S.C. Johnson & Sons, the target of an AFA boycott
since 1990, also reported increases in earnings.
K-mart/Waldenbooks, Dairy Mart and Stop N'Go have all
successfully resisted Wildmon's threats.[61] It is not the
boycott itself but the threat of a boycott with its potential
for bad publicity that has worked for Wildmon. Experience shows
that if the targeted company stands firm in the face of
Wildmon's threats, it need not fear economic damage.
Nevertheless, by the end of 1990, Wildmon had succeeded in
establishing himself as the nation's leading censor. This was
only partly the result of his celebrity. It also stemmed from
changes in the anti-pornography movement. Through most of its
existence, the National Federation for Decency/American Family
Association had competed with other censorship groups, including
Citizens for Decency through Law, the National Coalition Against
Pornography, Morality in Media and Focus on the Family. The
oldest and best established of these groups was the Citizens for
Decency through Law, which had been founded as the Citizens for
Decent Literature by lawyer Charles Keating, Jr., in Cincinnati
in 1957. Keating, who once warned that bermuda shorts were a
threat to morals, moved his group to Phoenix and grew very rich
as a property developer during the 1980's. His success was
capped by the purchase of the Lincoln Savings and Loan of
California. Keating shared his wealth with CDL, contributing
directly as well as through Lincoln Savings and its holding
company. Salaries grew fabulously for a non-profit group. In
1986, Executive Director William Swindell received a salary of
$175,000. General Counsel Benjamin Bull made $150,000. But in
April 1989, Lincoln Savings was seized by Federal regulators,
and Keating was charged with fraud. Without Keating, CDL soon
folded.
Wildmon took steps to position the AFA as the successor to CDL.
He hired Swindell to manage relations with AFA's state chapters.
He also hired Bull to head a new AFA Legal Center, a five-lawyer
operation that was designed to fulfill some of the functions
formerly undertaken by the CDL. Like CDL, the Legal Center would
attempt to boost enforcement of the obscenity laws by providing
training to law enforcement officials.
With the help of Swindell and Bull, the AFA exerted itself with
renewed vigor in 1991. In 1990, Wildmon had begun a campaign to
pressure K-mart to stop selling _Playboy_ and _Penthouse_
through its subsidiary, Waldenbooks. Now, he increased the
pressure by accusing K-mart of selling "kiddie porn."[62] AFA
also threatened a boycott against Blockbuster Video, the
nation's largest video rental and retail chain, unless it agreed
not to carry videos with the new NC-17 rating. Blockbuster,
which already had a policy against carrying X-rated videos, soon
announced its intention not to carry videos with the new
rating.[63]
As the Legal Center began to flex its muscles early in 1991, it
became clear that it meant to do more than suppress obscenity.
It promised to bring cases involving "anything affecting the
traditional American family."[64] In February, the AFA filed a
Federal suit to block the Woodland Joint Unified School District
in California from using a language arts and reading curriculum
that included stories about witches and goblins. AFA alleged
that the "Impressions" series taught the "religion" of
witchcraft and, therefore, violated the constitutional right of
students to be protected from the establishment of a religion.
In April, the Legal Center filed an amicus brief urging the
Kentucky Supreme Court to reverse a decision that held the
state's sodomy law unconstitutional [65]
In December 1991, the Legal Center became involved in another
major case. Delores Stanley, a manager of a Dairy Mart store in
Toronto, Ohio, defied company policy by refusing to sell
_Playboy_, _Penthouse_, and other adult magazines in her store.
Dairy Mart offered her a position in a store that didn't carry
magazines. When she refused, she was suspended. With the Legal
Center acting on her behalf, Stanley sued Dairy Mart, claiming
that to force a woman to sell adult magazines constituted sexual
discrimination and harassment. If the AFA prevails in the
Stanley case, thousands of stores throughout the country would
be forced to discontinue the sale of books, magazines, videos
and recordings that are protected by the First Amendment out of
a fear that a female employee may sue them. Stanley's case
against the chain was pending at the end of 1992.
After four years of victories, Wildmon encountered several
setbacks in 1992. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to bar the
U.S. exhibition of a British documentary, "Damned in the U.S.A."
Wildmon had been interviewed for the film after the filmmakers
signed a contract that he believed gave him the right to
determine whether it could be shown in the United States. When
they tried to exhibit the film at the American Museum of Natural
History's Margaret Mead Film Festival without his permission,
Wildmon sued them for breach of contract and won a temporary
restraining order barring exhibition. The filmmakers and a
coalition of groups, including the American Civil Liberties
Union, Human Rights Watch and People for the American Way, filed
a suit to lift the ban.[66] In September, a Federal court
rejected Wildmon's claim, and "Damned in the U.S.A." was
released theatrically.
Wildmon received more bad publicity in the fall of 1992 when
_TV Guide_ published an unflattering profile.[67] Having refused
to speak to reporter Claudia Dreifus while the story was being
prepared, Wildmon issued a press release condemning it upon its
publication. He was particularly unhappy with the report that he
had received a salary of $101,159 and a $14,400 tax-free housing
allowance in 1990. (Wildmon said his actual salary was $72,500;
the other $28,659 had been a bonus, the first he had ever
received.) Dreifus also quoted criticism of Wildmon offered by
religious television critics who oppose censorship. She reported
that a motion to commend Wildmon at the Methodist General
Conference in May had failed by a vote of 54 to 1. Wildmon did
not respond to his religious critics or to Dreifus' revelation
of AFA's connection to Charles Keating's organization, CDL.
Another damaging story was published in November by the
magazine _Mother Jones_. The article challenged the AFA claim of
640 chapters nationwide.[68] It also raised questions about a
purported "membership" of 450,000, which was based on the
circulation of its _Journal_.[69] Reporter Bill Dedman
demonstrated that many of the local chapters were inactive or
consisted of only a few members. By paying a fee of $25 to AFA,
Dedman established his own chapter of the AFA so he could attend
a conference for chapter leaders at the AFA headquarters in
Tupelo. The conference attracted representatives from fewer than
40 chapters, Dedman reported. AFA membership claims are also
exaggerated, he said. AFA's list of "active" contributors,
meaning those who had contributed money in the past two year,
consisted of 275,193 names.[70] AFA itself acknowledges that
many "subscribers" to the _Journal_ are ministers who receive
the magazine free.
Perhaps most ominous of all for Wildmon was the report in late
1992 that television advertisers were growing less skittish
about explicit programming. The ability to pressure television
advertisers had been Wildmon's major weapon since the beginning
of his crusade. But the television networks struck back by
commissioning research on the effectiveness of Wildmon's
boycotts. In the fall of 1991, the _Journal of Media Planning_
published a study by NBC researcher Horst Stipp that used survey
data to demonstrate that Wildmon's followers were not
representative of viewers as a whole.[71] Stipp supported his
conclusion by citing a study by Daniel Linz and others showing
that the viewing audience overwhelmingly supported a
controversial NBC movie on date rape, "She Said No."[72] These
studies, together with the high ratings garnered by shows like
"Roseanne," "Seinfeld" and "Civil Wars," appeared to convince
television advertisers that there was no risk in sponsoring
explicit programming so long as the shows were in good taste,
the _New York Times_ reported.[73]
Although all organizations suffer setbacks, there were reasons
for believing at the end of 1992 that Wildmon's influence had
begun to decline. Inevitably, his attacks had prompted new
organizational efforts by his opponents. In 1990, Americans for
Constitutional Freedom brought together Michigan booksellers,
video retailers, magazine wholesalers, theater owners,
librarians and others to fight a package of AFA backed
pro-censorship legislation in the Michigan legislature. A
petition drive gathered over 40,000 names and was a major force
in defeating the bills. Artists responded to Wildmon's attacks
by founding the National Campaign for Free Expression to oppose
content restrictions on NEA grants. Both commercial and
non-commercial anti-censorship groups worked together in 1991
and 1992 to defeat the Pornography Victims' Compensation Act (S.
1521) in Congress. Wildmon had endorsed the principle of the
bill, which was that producers and distributors of works should
be held liable for their alleged effects. Wildmon said he would
hold the producers of the movie _Deerhunter_ responsible for the
deaths that occurred when people imitated the characters in the
movie by playing Russian roulette.
It is clear that Donald Wildmon's AFA will remain one of the
country's leading censorship groups for many years to come. With
a budget of $7 million in 1992, the AFA is still a formidable
adversary.[74] Moreover, with the addition of advisers like the
CDL's Swindell and Bull, Wildmon's organization is more
sophisticated than most of its competitors. But Wildmon appears
to be losing credibility with his intended targets. Once
individuals and companies begin ignoring his threats, it will be
only a matter of time before the country discovers that Donald
Wildmon is the leader of a very small army.
Television Series Attacked by the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon
A Team Heartbeat
A Man Called Hawk Highway to Heaven
A Different World Hill Street Blues
Alf Hogan Family
All in the Family Hooperman
Almost Grown Hotel
Amen Houston Knights
Anything but Love In Living Color
Benson In the Heat of the Night
Beverly Hills 90210 Jack & Mike
Blossom Jake and the Fat Man
Bronx Zoo Johnny Carson
Cagney and Lacey Kate & Allie
Captain Planet and the Knight Rider
Planeteers Knots Landing
CBS Schoolbreak Special LA Law
Channel 99 Laverne & Shirley
Charlie's Angels Law and Order
Cheers Let's Make a Deal
Crime Story Life Goes On
Dads Live-In
Dallas Love, Sidney
Dear John Love Boat
Designing Women MacGyver
Different World Magnum P.I.
Doctor, Doctor Married With Children
Doogie Howser, M.D. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Dukes of Hazzard Matlock
Dynasty Matt Houston
Empty Nest Maude
Equalizer Miami Vice
Evening Shade Midnight Caller
Facts of Life Mike Hammer
Family Ties Moonlighting
First Impressions Mr. T
Flamingo Road Mr. Belvedere
48 Hours Murder, She Wrote
Full House Murphy Brown
Gimme a Break My Two Dads
Golden Girls Nancy Walker Show
Good and Evil Newlywed Game
Grand Night Court
Growing Pains Nightingales
Head of the Class Northern Exposure
Heart of the City Outlaws
PrimeTime Live
Remmington Steel
Riptide
Roseanne
Sara
Saturday Night Live
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scooby Doo
Seinfeld
Shadow Chasers
Simon & Simon
Simpsons
Slap Maxwell
Sledge Hammer
Smothers Brothers
Soap
Sonny Spoon
Spenser for Hire
St. Elsewhere
Stingray
Sunday Dinner
Sweet Surrender
T.J. Hooker
Tattinger's
Taxi
Thorns
The Cavanaughs
Thirtysomething
Three's Company
Three's a Crowd
Tour of Duty
Trapper John, M.D.
TV 101
20/20
227
Under One Roof
Valerie
Webster
West 57th Street
Who's the Boss
Wiseguy
WKRP in Cincinnati
Wonder Years
World of Disney
Year in the Life
Corporations Criticized by the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon for
Sponsoring Programs or Selling Material He Has Opposed
A.H. Robins du Pont
Abbot Labs Dunkin' Donuts
Ace Hardware Duracell
Airwick Corporation Eastman Kodak
Alberto-Culver Farly Industries
American Express Ford Motor Co.
American Home Products Fuji Film
American Airlines Gallo Wines
American Motors General Mills
American Cynamid General Motors
Anheuser Busch General Foods
Apple Computer General Electric
Armstrong Industries Georgia Pacific
ATT Gillette Corp.
Avon Products Grand Met Consumer Products
Beatrice Foods Gulf and Western
Beecham Corporation H.I.S. Clothing
Bristol -Meyers Hallmark Cards
Burroughs Wellcome Heinz
Cadbury-Schweppes Helene Curtis
Campbell's Soups Hershey Products
Carter-Wallace Hilton Hotels
CBS Holiday Corporation
Chanel Honda
Cheseborough-Pond Hormel
Chrysler Hyatt Corporation
Circle K. Corporation Hyundai
Citibank ITT Corporation
Clorox J.C. Penney
Coca-Cola Johnson & Johnson
Colgate Palmolive Johnson Wax Co.
Combe, Inc. K-mart
Corning Glassworks Keebler
Cosmair Kellogg's
CPC International Kimberly Clark
Cumberland Farms Lever Brothers
Dairy Mart Levi Strauss
Denny's Inc. Marriott Corp.
Domino's Pizza Mars Candy
Dow Chemical Mastercard International
Dr. Pepper/7-UP Mazda Motors of America
McDonald's Warner-Lambert
MCI Wendy's
Mennen Wrigley's
Metropolitan Life Yamaha Motor Corp.
Miles Lab Zenith
Mitsubishi
Monsanto
Nestle
Nike
Nissan USA
North American Phillips
Noxell Corp.
Parker Bros.
Penney's
Pepsico
Pfizer
Phillip Morris
Pillsbury
Playtex
Procter and Gamble
Prudential Insurance
Quaker Oats
Quality Inn
Ralston Purina
Ramada Inn
Rayovac
RCA
Revlon
Richardson Vicks
RJR Nabisco
Ryder Trucks
Sandoz
Sara Lee Corp.
Schering-Plough
Searle
Sears-Roebuck
Sharp
SmithKline Beckman
Sony Corporation
Sterling Drug
Subaru
Tambrands
Time, Inc.
Topps Chewing Gum
Toyota
Tru-Value Hardware
Tyson Foods
U.S. Sprint
Union Carbide
Upjohn
Visa USA
Warner Communications
FOOTNOTES:
1 _AFA Journal_, January 1989, 2.
2 _Time_, July 6, 1981, 20.
3 Tim Wildmon fundraising letter, May 26, 1987.
4 Associated Press, July 21, 1977.
5 _The Washington Post_, May 17, 1978, Section B, 1..
6 Associated Press, October 15, 1979.
7 Ibid, July 7, 1980.
8 United Press International, November 5, 1980.
9 _Newsweek_, June 15, 1981, 101.
10 United Press International, February 28, 1981.
11 _Newsweek_, June 15, 1981, 101.
12 Associated Press, June 19, 1981; _New York Times_, June 30,
1981, Section C, 15.
13 _Newsweek_, June 29, 1981, 60.
14 Ibid.
15 _New York Times_, June 26, 1981, 10.
16 Associated Press, June 26, 1981.
17 _New York Times_, June 30, 1981, Section C, 15.
18 United Press International, July 14, 1981.
19 _Washington Post_, July 7, 1981, Section C, 1.
20 United Press International, July 29, 1981.
21 Associated Press, September 29, 1981.
22 United Press International, January 27, 1982.
23 Associated Press, February 23, 1982.
24 _New York Times_, March 5, 1982, Section C, 28.
25 Associated Press, June 7, 1982.
26 _New York Times_, June 11, 1982, p. 30.
27 Ibid, November 21, 1982, Section 3, 21.
28 _Washington Post_, July 7, 1981, Section C, 1.
29 _Time_, March 7, 1983, 120.
30 United Press International, May 20, 1983.
31 _AFA Journal_, April 1989, 12.
32 Donald E. Wildmon, "Pornography in the Family Marketplace,"
attached as an addendum to letter from Alan Sears, Executive
Director, Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, to
various Corporations, February 1986. However, the testimony was
not attributed to Wildmon at the time.
33 The only magazines carried by 7-Eleven were _Playboy_,
_Penthouse_ and _Forum_ magazines. But _Playboy_ and _Penthouse_
were explicitly excluded from the magazines examined by the
Meese Commission. "Our study did not address magazines like
_Playboy_ and _Penthouse_," Commission Chairman Henry Hudson
said on "Meet the Press," on July 13, 1986.
34 United Press International, April 11, 1986.
35 _Washington Post_, July 23, 1986, Section B, 3.
36 _Los Angeles Times_, August 25, 1986, 1.
37 United Press International, April 18, 1987.
38 _Advertising Age_, April 27, 1987, 75.
39 _Communications Daily_, June 1, 1987, 5.
40 Ibid, September 23, 1987, 7.
41 Associated Press, August 5, 1988.
42 _Los Angeles Times_, July 23, 1988, Part II, 1.
43 Facts on File, _World News Digest_, September 9, 1988, 656
F3.
44 Associated Press, July 26, 1988.
45 _Advertising Age_, March 6, 1989, 1.
46 Associated Press, March 17, 1989.
47 _Advertising Age_, April 17, 1989, 81.
48 United Press International, April 6, 1989.
49 _Newsday_, May 17, 1989, Section II, 2.
50 _Insight_, July 2, 1990, 14.
51 _New York Times_ Magazine, September 2, 1990, 24.
52 Ibid, September 2, 1990, 25
53 Ibid.
54 _New York Newsday_, March 30, 1991, 53.
55 _New York Times_, September 2, 1990, 22.
56 _AFA Journal_, September 1990, 1.
57 _Advertising Age_, October 1990, 16.
58 Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Consumer Attitudes Study
3103, May 15-17, 1990, quoted in press release by Americans for
Constitutional Freedom.
59 _Wall Street Journal_, September 5, 1989, Section B, 1.
60 Ibid.
61 _AFA Journal_, January 1992, 1.
62 _AFA Journal_, February 1991, 1.
63 _Variety_, January 21, 1991, 27.
64 _AFA Journal_, April 1991, 6.
65 Ibid, March 1991, 17.
66 _New York Times_, April 17, 1992, Section B, 12.
67 _TV Guide_, September 5, 1992, 11.
68 _Annual Report: 1992 Accomplishments of the American Family
Association_, 2.
69 Bill Dedman, "Bible Belt Blowhard," _Mother Jones_,
November/December 1992, 42.
70 Ibid.
71 Horst Stipp, :"Advertising in Controversial Programs: Are
There Risks?" _Journal of Media Planning_, Volume 6, number 2,
Fall 1991, 3.
72 Barbara J. Wilson, Daniel Linz, Edward Donnerstein, "The
Impact of Social Issue Television Programming on Attitudes
Toward Rape," _Human Communications Research_, Volume 19, Number
2, December 1992, 179.
73 _New York Times_, December 7, 1992, Section D, 1.
74 AFA Press Release, August 29, 1992, 2.
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